Jefferson Scores 30 in Tough Loss for Bloomsburg

MILLERSVILLE--The Bloomsburg University men's basketball team rallied from 16-points down in the second half to take the lead, but could not hang on and lost 79-73 to Millersville in the season finale on Saturday.

In the opening 20 minutes of play the teams traded leads six times to go along with six ties. Both teams had six point leads at one point in the first half before the Marauders were finally able to open a four-point advantage heading into halftime.

Millersville started the second half with a 16-4 run in the opening four minutes of play to take its biggest lead if the game, 61-45. Charlie Parker led the Marauders' rally with eight points, while Jeremy Gwin added four points.

Bloomsburg, though, regrouped and used a 23-4 run over the next seven minutes to go in front 68-64 with 9:01 left to play in the game. It was Bloomsburg's first lead in the game since 2:42 to play in the opening half. Leading the rally for the Huskies was Matt Jefferson (Philadelphia/George Washington) and Marion Rose (Philadelphia/Mastbaum Tech) with eight points each, including two three-pointers from Rose.

Following a Millersville basket, Mike Cheatle (North Wales/Hatboro-Horsham) drained a three-pointer to put Bloomsburg back in front by five, 71-69 with 7:16 to play in the game. Millersville then tied the score with back-to-back baskets with 5:30 to play in the game. Then with 4:50 to play, Jefferson put back a Billy Bryan (Denver/Reading Holy Name) miss for the Huskies and was fouled. Jefferson missed the free throw leaving the Huskies with a two-point lead at 73-71. Millersville then tied the score on a jumper by Gwin. A few possessions later, Bloomsburg turned the ball over with 3:32 to play and then saw Millersville's Parker come down and score to put the home team back in front 75-73. After another Bloomsburg turnover, Parker scored to make it a four-point lead, 77-73, for Millersville with 2:53 to play.

Down the stretch the Huskies went cold from the floor missing their final four shot attempts. Millersville's Parker added a dunk with less than 20 seconds to play to make it a six-point win.

Bloomsburg, 6-21, 2-10 PSAC East, got 30 points and nine rebounds from Matt Jefferson to lead the way. It is the fourth straight game that Jefferson has scored more than 30 points in a game. In addition, Mike Cheatle and Rose scored 15 each for the Huskies.

Millersville, 10-17, 4-8 PSAC East, got 25 points from Parker, while Greg Testa added 23 points.